The Four Strangers

Chapters

A New Beginning
It's A Start
What Do We Do Now
Greetings
The Town Part 1: The library
The Town Part 3: The Carousel Boutique
The Party Part 1
The Party Part 2
Epic Confrontation
The Game is Over... For Now
The Town Part 2: Sweet Apple Acres

A New Beginning

The Four Strangers

A New Beginning

"This is not your grave, but you are welcome in it" - Gravemind and Regret (Halo 2)

It was a beautiful winter night in Equestria as everypony got into their beds for a warm slumber, only ponies awake being the night guard and Princess Luna. They were busy on the night shift, watching and working on the preparations for Hearth's Warming Eve, a holiday that brings friends and family together for the celebration of the finding of Equestria and the joining of the three pony tribes. Snow was falling on the ground for the next day so when ponies woke up they could have fun in it. But somewhere not so far away in space, a few miles away from the planet's moon was a large chunk of space debris, made out of metal, flesh, and rock. It was no normal space junk because inside the chunk layed four individuals. The survivors of a war against multiple foes, they knew they were the only ones of their kind within a fifteen thousand mile radius or they would sense it, but all they could sense the lifeforms on the planet bellow. They were members of the most hated species in existance, the Flood. Inside the debris, one of the flood forms was thinking outward towards his commrads, his brothers.

'LIfe...life is a virtue on its own timeline...a timeline of failures and achievements. The Gravemind made many achievements in his time as our ruler, but he also failed to consume and grow. We may have been his elite, but we had our doubts about the Gravemind and what happened, we were right, we knew his plans would fail, as the humans would say it, it was cliche. The villain always loses in the end and in his story he was a villain. His words were wise, but words are only as good as the one who says them, he didn't, yes he didn't follow the words "Ashes to ashes dust to dust." He should have known he wouldn't be immortal, nothing is, the Flood may live forever, but not its members or leaders. His way of living gave him many enemies, enemies that worked together to destroy him and they did. But we, the Juggernaut Elite still live, floating through space to whatever planet we land on, but we stay together, other Flood just die, but not us, we are special. We won't make the same mistakes as The Gravemind did, no, we will try to live "with" others instead of "consuming" others. The Flood will always remain, but that doesn't mean we need to remain as monsters that consume everything. A new world awaits us brothers and we will show that the Flood aren't monsters, but creatures with a will to survive.'

The chunk of flesh was taken in by the full force of the planet's gravitational pull, the Juggernauts began to decend into the atmosphere as they got into position for impact, crossing their arms to form an 'X' shape in front of them and getting into a crouch position. Each one of them huddle up into a group each one facing a corner or what could be called a corner of the air bubble in the debris. One of them could see the flesh start to boil on their side of the room while in other areas metal began to bend and rock started to break away. A large piece of the space junk broke away revealing them a sight of a castle apon a mountain side and a village not that far way from the castle. Last thing they saw before hitting the ground was smoke coming from the ground near their landing area in the forest, they heard a ear-piercing scream and then nothing.

=====

The eldest of the Juggernaut, whose name was Obligation, began to regain consciousness from the impact, he started to look around to see that is was dark out. He started to get into a sitting position when he heard the movement of what could be the sound of hooves moving quickly towards the opening in the now debris-made cave. He decided to be silent, he wasn't sure if these were animals or some type of sentient life and he didn't want to make a bad impression on himself or his brothers.

Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell were running as fast as they could from the camp they had made after getting lost in the Everfree, they had just got settled down when a pack of timberwolves came out of the forest. Shortly afterwards some large object fell from the sky, since the object came into their minds when they started to run, they went into the diection of the object. they continued to run until they ended up at the landing site, there was a huge crater with small flames coming off of it and it had the smell of burning flesh and hot molted metal. the girls didn't know what do to until Scootaloo spotted a fairly good sized hole inside. They ran into the debris-made cave and stopped to rest.

"Are they gone?" Asked a frightened Sweetie Bell.

"Ah don't see anypony or anything moving outside."

"Maybe we lost them." Stated Scootaloo.

"Well, just to be safe we should stay in hear until somepony realizes were missing." Said Sweetie Bell.

"But thats going to take forever and this place gives me the creeps."

Obligation just sat there without moving watching the three fillies talk amongst themselves. By this time Tolerance and Restraint had regained consciousness as well and thought it was wise to stay still, even if they were not in the best positions. The three began to communicate telepathically so they wouldn't be noticed.

'They are equines of some form, they may be members of the dominate race on this planet sense they can speak a language that is universal.' - Obligation

'By the looks of their features, we can truly say they are of the same genus, but not the same species, one has a horn and no wings, the other has wings and no horn, and the last one has neither a horn or wings.' - Restraint

'Also we can speculate that the three species of equines treat each other as equals by how they behave to each other.' - Tolerance

The three continued to contemplate everything thought that came into their heads until they heard one of the equines say., "Look at these flowers."

Sweetie Bell was pointing her hoof at Mercy's sensors, as he was the only one still unconsciousness the others began to worry what might happen if they tried to remove the sensors, "Are they pretty or what?"

"Ah've never any flower that looked like that." Stated Applebloom

"Maybe we found a new type of flower." Sweetie Bell replied.

"You should take on so we can so it to Zecora or Twilight."

"That sound like a good idea Scootaloo."

"Well of course, my ideas always work." Said Scootaloo as she stood up in courageous pose.

Sweetie Bell and Applebloom stared at Scootaloo with looks that said, 'ya right.' Scootaloo just shrugged it off and started to play with Tolerance's right leg by jumping back and forth over it just to pass the time. Scootaloo continued until she juped too early and tripped over the leg with a yell and fell flat on her face. Sweetie Bell and Applebloom stopped their attempts to remove a 'flower' and helped Scootaloo get back up on her hooves.

"Are yah alright Scoots?" Asked the concerned Applebloom.

"Ya, I'm okay, just tripped over that log."

Tolerance felt is pain hit is ego, making the muscles throught his body flinch at Scootaloos last statement, but none of the fillies noticed it. Suddenly, everypony and everyflood, including the now consciousness Mercy, heard the howl of a wolf nearby, Sweetie Bell looked through the opening to find two packs of timberwolves slowly sneaking towards the opening. Sweetie Bell turned around to face her friends.

"Girls, we got trouble."

Author's Note

The names are used from the names of the Prophets and Prophetess of the Covenant High Council During the Ages of Doubt (AoD) and the present Age of Reclamation (AoR).

Their names were given to them by the Gravemind in order to insult the Prophets and Prophetess.

Prophetess of Obligation (AoD)
Prophet of Mercy (AoR)
Prophet of Tolerance (AoD)
Prophet of Restraint (AoD)

Even though they refer themselves as brothers and that I say 'he', they have no gender and prefer to have a more distinguished reference to themselves out of respect.

Also the difference between an Juggernaut Elites and Normal Juggernaut is that the Elite are defective unlike other Flood, they have a consciousness and have a higher intelligence than Normal Juggernauts, who are as intelligent as the Gravemind himself, that makes these Juggernauts more intelligent than the Gravemind, also they have transform capabilities like other pure forms, just more advanced. This is like a changeling fic, just with four 18 foot Juggernaut Flood forms.

The comedy tag is for later in the story.

It's A Start

The Four Strangers

It's A Start

"Do not be afraid. I am peace; I am salvation" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo, and Applebloom were trying to get as far away from the opening as possible in hopes that the timberwolves would go away again and not come back, but it was useless. The timberwolves by now knew that they were inside the debris and were circling it, just in case if there were any other exits, most of the timberwolves were at the entrance, ready to strike anything that moved. The girls tried to stay out of sight and hid behind one of the large pieces of debris, which in fact was Tolerance. The girls didn't even notice the 'flowers' moving around on their own.

'I can't seem to make any connection to the minds of our new arrivals.' - Tolerance

'These creatures must not be fully developed, they are just animals running on instinct.' - Restraint

'They seem to be constructed out of wood, is that even possible?' - Mercy

'The universe is vast, any type of being can exist.' - Restraint

'What should we do, if we don't act the equines will certainly perish." - Tolerance

'But we can't kill the animals, it goes against everything The Juggernaut Elite stand for.' - Mercy

'Brother, sometimes one has to an act of evil for the greater good of all, if don't act we won't be any different from the Gravemind himself.' - Obligation

'Mercy has a point, but you are also correct brother, why don't we try to scare off the animals.' - Tolerance

'It's worth trying, there will be no blood shed and everything should turn out for the better.' - Restraint

'It might work, but what of the equines, I suspect that they will react in an irrational manor.' - Obligation

'I'll keep them from harming themselves or anything else, their health is our concern.' - Tolerance

'Yes, any action we do from now on will be reflected on how we are viewed.' - Restraint

'Correct, but if all fails, we may have to use lethal force.' - Obligation

'We understand brother.' - Restraint, Tolerance, and Mercy

'We have a plan, Tolerance will protect the younglings, Mercy and myself will try to scare away the wooden creatures, and Restraint I want you to stay back and look out just in case they find another way in.' - Obligation

By now, seven accounted timberwolves were inside the cave, looking around for any sign of their prey. The three fillies began to feel panic crawl up their spines, thinking that this may be their last time they ever see each other again.

"Girls...I'm sorry for getting us in this mess." Whispered Scootaloo.

"It's okay Scoots, it's all our fault that we are stuck in this pickle." Said Applebloom.

"I don't want this to be the end, we don't even have our cutie marks," Interjected Sweetie Bell, "I want to do home."

Like an answer to her words Tolerance like a bolt of lightning got in a crouch position and folded his arms around the girls, while Obligation and Mercy stood at their full hight of eighteen-feet and started to walk towards the timberwolves. Restraint stood in the middle of the room in a defense stance, ready for anything to happen. The timberwolves snarled and barked at the two Juggernauts, but they slowly backed away towards the entrance in fear and confusion at the sight of the unfamiliar Flood forms. They continued to back away until a large roar was heard from outside. The timberwolves turned around to find a manticore standing at the entrance with the remains of one of the timberwolf alphas in its jaws. The seven timberwolves started to attack the manticore, but before anything could happen, Mercy, Obligation, and Restraint moved themselves between the opposing predators, Obligation facing the timberwolves, while Mercy and Restraint faced towards the manticore. The manticore, looking at the large Juggernauts, being smart enough to know it wouldn't be able to win a fight against the unknown life forms turned around and walked away from the entrance back into the forest. The timberwolves, being less intelligent, began to attack the three Juggernauts. Feeling that the peaceful approach has failed, Mercy began to attack the timberwolves in defense, grabbing one with his arms and threw it towards the opening, Obligation and Restraint also joined in the battle, smashing their bodies with very little force. Within minutes all the timberwolves had been neutralized, but what surprised the Juggernauts was that the bodies turned into piles of wood upon death and that there was no trace of blood what so ever. Mercy walked over towards one of the piles and began to look at it.

"Interesting," Mercy's gruff and powerful voice echoed through the cave, "They seem to have no organs or any type of nervous system what so ever, they are just made out of only broken branches and bark. This will need further study brothers."

"Mercy, there are more important things to worry about." Said the powerful and wise voice of Obligation, as he was looking outside the cave.

"YeS, LiKe wHAt Do wE DO wITh ThE thrEE YoungLingS." Restraint speaking with his one of a kind distorted voice, which was full of worry and curiosity as he pointed at the now unconscious fillies, who fainted during the struggle with the timberwolves.

"I think we should take them to the nearest area with other sentient life, this forest is much too dangerous," Tolerance spoke up, having the softest voice of the three, "I do sense a large presence of intelligence."

"Where is this area of intelligence Tolerance?" Asked Obligation.

"Its at least one-hundred, thirty-four yards from our current position."

"ThEn WHat woULD wE Do tHEn, wE cAn'T JuSt lEaVe tHEm, tHeY prOBabLy HavE a PLacE oF rESidEnCe, aND We cAN't gO thERE liKe tHIs, wE'd Be AccUsEd Of BeiNG ThE aTtacKerS."

Tolerance knew Restraint had a good point, they couldn't just come out of the forest with the younglings and expect the local population to thank them, the local population would try to chase them away. They would need to gain the trust of the populace before revealing themselves. Tolerance sat down on a large pile of junk, thinking of ways they could do this, then an idea came to mind.

"I have an idea of what we could do."

Author's Note

Timberwolf = 6 ft
Manticore = 7.6 ft

What Do We Do Now

The Four Strangers

What Do We Do Now

"Time... has taught me patience! But basking in new freedom, I will know all that I possess!" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

"You want us to do what now!?" Yelled out Obigation and Mercy at the sound of Tolerances idea.

"Its not that dangerous and besides, this plan has the best chance of succeeding." Replied Tolerance.

"No, I'm sorry brother, but the odds against us are just too high!"

Tolerance looked from Obligation to Mercy for support from said brother, but he wasn't going to help him.

"I have to agree with Obligation with this one Tolerance, usually I would agree with you, but there are too many risks with this plan!" Yelled Mercy.

"WeLl, I ActUally agReE, tHe plAn mAY bE riSkY, bUt iT's wOrTh A trY."

"Well it's the only plan I could think of that may actually work!" Tolerance yelled back to Mercy.

"Do EithEr Of yOu haVe aNy GOod idEaS TheN?" Added Restraint.

The two opposing Juggernauts looked at each other as they thought about it for a few minutes, as they did they didn't notice that the moon had descend under the view of the trees and the sun was beginning to rise on the other side. After a few more moments, the two agreed on a decision.

"Well, how are we exactly going to cloak ourselves and then make equine holograms for ourselves?" Asked Obligation.

"And we don't even know what an adult male equine looks like." Mercy added in the last comment, but Tolerance as usual, was prepared for everything.

"I still have the cloaks and holograms that we were studying before we were blasted into space." Tolerance took one of his arms and make a good sized hole in his side with it, causing six cloaks and eight holograms to fall out, afterwards the hole slowly closed up to have Tolerance return back to normal stature. Mercy looked at the equipment and back to Tolerance.

"Only you would keep extras of everything inside yourself."

"Well, Mercy my planning ahead just saved us large amounts of trouble and time."

"CaN wE sTOp bickEriNg aNd beGIn wOrKing oN tHiS pLaN, ThIs pLanEt's sUn HAs alrEAdy stArted tO riSe ANd ThE yOUnglIngs wOn'T sTAy inActIve foRever."

Obligation had to agree with Restraint, they didn't have time to waste as they saw that the most of the sun can already be seen over the trees, "Restraint is correct, we need to start moving, Tolerance can you modify the cloaks to function more efficiently and modify the holograms to work with the users movements."

"All I need is time to work with."

"You will get that time and more if you need it. Okay then with that part settled, Restraint I want you to move ahead and observe for any clues on the appearance of the male equines, if we see any. Mercy, you and I will carry the younglings so they don't get harmed."

Restraint left the clearing and into the forest in the direction that was pointed earlier, while the other three were preparing to follow, Mercy grabing the pegasus filly and some rare, but discarded alloys and metals, Obligation looked at Mercy in curiosity. Mercy took notice of this and said, "We need to be prepared in case the populace has some type of currency."

Obligation being satisfied with the answer took hold of the other two fillies and Tolerance took the cloaks and holograms and began to work on them. All three took a moment to look back at the space debris, knowing they would never see it again heading into the forest to follow Restraint.

=====

It was a beautiful morning in Ponyville, the birds were singing, ponies were starting to come out of there homes, greeting each other at the starting of a new, harmonious day. Inside of the local library a certain lavender colored unicorn mare was beginning to stir. Twilight squinted her eyes against the sun streaming in through the windows, casting rays of light that filled the room. Rubbing her eyes with a hoof, she sat up in bed, preparing herself to get up and prepare for the new day. She went straight to the bathroom to clean herself up. After she had finished her bathroom routine and now was fully awake, she saw Spike, still curled up in an adorable little ball and gently prodded him with a hoof.

“Spike,” she whispered, “wake up.”

After a few moments of waiting she poked him again, “Come on, now, you gotta get up! It’s a new a beautiful day. We've got stuff to do!”

Spike grumpily got up from his sleep, rubbing at his eyes with both hands. As spike showered and readied himself for the day, Twilight stretched out and sat down in a chair in the main lobby. She was reading a book that she had numerous times before on the magic of sentient non-pony beings, and the interesting thing was they could almost be classified as the pony races were. Gryphons were the fliers of the non-ponies. The minotaurs roughly represented the earth pony race. And the crystal ponies, while something like a pony, still were considered non-pony, and thus were the magic wielders. The Changelings both had a horn and wings, but were also strong and represented a mix of all three. Twilight was engrossed in the book yet again, and almost didn't hear the panicked knock on the door. Twilight put her book down and started to walk towards the door, but before she could reach it the door burst open with Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash looking at the unicorn with faces of worry and desperation. Twilight taking notice of this, started to get ideas in her head of things that the girls may be upset about. They were all panting, trying to regain their breathes, when Spike walked into the room. Rarity zoomed past Twilight and faced Spike.

"Uh, hi Rarity...what's up?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy darling, say have you seen Sweetie Bell today." Replied Rarity as she was trying to act as ladylike as can be.

"Hey Twilight have you seen Scoots, she was supposed to met me near the field so I could help her learn how to fly, but I haven't seen her anywhere!?"

Twilight didn't have time to answer Rainbow's question before Applejack joined in.

"And Ah haven't seen Applebloom since last night when Ah put her to bed!"

Everypony in the room stopped talking, moving, just thinking by putting the dots together, while Spike, not being a pony, slowly walked back into the kitchen. They continued to think about the events that happened the day before. They all knew that the girls wanted to go see Zecora sometime yesterday for something really important so they could try something to get their cutie marks. After a minute or so the girls all came to the same conclusion.

"THE EVERFREE FOREST!"

Greetings

The Four Strangers

Greetings

"We exist together now, two corpses in one grave..." - Gravemind (Halo 2)

"Okay everypony, this is how it's going to go, we will all be in groups of seven, this is for the caution against threats that have been found in the forest, don't stay in one spot too long and continue to move, stay on the paths given to you, we will search until it gets dark, hopefully by then the girls will have been found and we can all go home, if we don't find them, well lets hope for the best." Twilight finished up her speech to the whole town of Ponyville, each group had at least one unicorn to light the way and had pegasus to fly overhead as scouts. Everypony was lined up, all facing towards the Everfree forest. Nopony knew that they were being watched by Restraint, eyeing all the ponies to complete his task and then warn his brothers of the upcoming storm of equines.

"I sUre hOpE ToLerAncE KnOWs WhaT hE's dOiNg, bEcaUse iF tHoSe cLoAks DoN't wOrK, wEll I Don'T eVen wAnT tO tHinK aBouT WhaT MiGhT HapPen." Restraint was whispering to himself until...

"Hey, it does work for a matter of fact!" Said a soft voice that seamed familiar, yet not so familiar. Restraint turned around as fast as he could to find three male unicorns, each one holding one of the younglings on their backs. The first unicorn was the tallest and skinniest of the group, he had a grey mane with a dark tan coat, his eyes were a dark red, on his flank was a black shield with white gears surrounding it, the unicorn on his right was smaller, but more muscular, he had a black mane with a lighter tan coat, his eyes were also a dark red, on his flank was a brown book with silver wrench in the center. The unicorn on the left was a normal standard to what Restraint had seen, his mane was a faded brown with a normal tan coat, eyes being the same color as the other two, this one's flank had blue atom made out of wires with two standard screwdrivers forming an 'X' on the atom. He was the one that had spoken and levitating next to him was what looked like the items Tolerance had, but they had been formed into one unit,

"Well, Restraint, we don't have all day from what can be seen from outside the forest, put the cloak on." Spoke the taller unicorn. His voice also was not as powerful, but just as wise before. Restraint stood dumbfounded at what he was looking at until he heard hoofsteps coming from the opening behind him, he regained a sense of reality and quickly took the device from the air, which in fact was just being lifted by Tolerances cloaked arm. He placed it on under his sensory organs and activated it, as the giant Juggernaut slowly faded, a male unicorn stood in his place. He was tall, but also muscular, his mane was a dark tan color with the coat being a pale brown, his eyes were the same red as the others and on his flank was a golden gear with brown wings on them, on the tips of the wings being a dark red. Then the Restraint/unicorn spoke with a less distorted voice, being lighter in tone then his normal voice, "Well, this is interesting."

"You'll get used to it very shortly, Restraint, oh and so you know its me Obligation under here and to my right is Mercy and Tolerance is on my left, just so you don't get confused brother." Said the tall unicorn, who which Restraint now knew was Obligation.

"I just hope they don't short out, they aren't exactly designed for this use Tolerance." Said Restraint, as he turned his holographic head towards Tolerance. Tolerance just shrugged it off and said, "Well at least they work, hopefully by the time they start acting up we won't need them."

"Okay then," Obligation getting 'everypony's' attention, "we have a whole search party of equines..."

"Pony." Restraint corrected. His brothers looking at him in confusion.

"What?" Mercy asked.

Restraint sighed and began to explain, "They refer themselves as ponies as a species, they don't say equines or younglings, for example, any word that has body in it, like everybody or somebody is said by the ponies as everypony or somepony. And instead of saying younglings they say fillies or colts. The adults are referred as mares for females and stallions for males, and yes I learned this by hearing in on the lavender unicorn's speech, and thats another thing, unicorns are ponies with horns, pegasus are ponies with wings, and normal ponies are just called earth ponies."

Restraint's brothers stared at him with even more confusion as they processed the newly acquired information. As soon as they were done they stood as tall as they could, with Obligation speaking words that would change there lives forever, "Okay my brothers, let meet the locals."

=====

All the ponies of Ponyville began to slowly walk towards the Everfree forest, with the mane six leading from the front. they continued to move forward until they all heard the breaking of branches. Twilight signaled her friends to get ready for any creature that may come out of the forest. By then the sound was even louder and they could see bushes shaking. Twilight started to power up her horn until she saw the head of a unicorn pop out of the bushes, what was even stranger was that she didn't recognize the unicorn.

"Hello!" Shouted Restraint as he slowly moved himself forward, exposing himself from the bushes, his brothers standing behind him, still camouflaged, by the bushes. The towns ponies were dumfounded by this change in events, "were you all about to enter the forest?

Mercy whispers out, "What are you doing Restraint?"

Obligation instead answers the question for Restraint, "So we don't sound suspicious."

Twilight steps forward and answers, "Yes! As a matter of fact we are looking for three missing fillies!"

"You are, it so happens my brothers and I saved three fillies from being wolf food!"

As if on cue, Mercy, Obligation, and Tolerance exit the forest, each one carrying a filly on their backs. At the sight of this the mane six run towards the unicorns with happiness in their eyes as the unicorns lift the fillies off their backs and gives them to the mares, not noticing the absence of aura surrounding the fillies as they were lifted. Around the same time the girls woke up to find their sisters/idols and friends holding them in a hug.

The girls looked back up at the three fillies saviors and said in unison, "Thank you." But before they could say anything Pinkie Pie jumped from the group and gasped, "Wait, new ponies and the girls were saved, you know that this means!"

The rest of the group said in unison, "Oh dear.."

"A PARTY!"

Author's Note

Here is an extra chapter for the day, the Juggernauts have saved the CMC, took them back to Ponyville, in front of everpony and then a party, The next chapter is going to be fun to write and if you think I was a little fast at the end of this chapter...well Pinkie is Pinkie, she is quick and is random. So don't blame me, blame Pinkie Logic.

This is also the most boring of the chapters I had to write so far, no action, just getting to Ponyville and saveing the day.

Also if there are any artist out reading this, well...WE need more Juggernaut art!

The Town Part 1: The library

The Four Strangers

The Town Part 1: The library

"Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness, a father's sins, passed to his son" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

The four flood/ponies stood there dumbfounded at the pink mare's words as she continued to ramble on and on about how great the 'party' going to be.

"Sorry, but a what?" Tolerance asked, interrupting the pink pony's thoughts

The pink pony looked at him for a few moments before say, "You know, a party!"

The four unicorns still didn't understand what the pony was talking about, this fact was plastered on all of their holographic faces.

Pinkie gasped, "You don't know what a party is?"

The unicorns said in unison, "No?"

"NO! This is bad if you don't know what a party is it can't make you smile...unless I explain a what a party is!"

The Ponyville folk started to break away from the area to continue what they were previously doing except for the mane six and Spike, who snook into the groups in order to help, even thought Twilight told him to stay in the library. Before Pinkie could explain anything a hoof was put into her mouth by Rainbow and Twilight stood up to face the unicorns.

"I'm sorry for Pinkie's behavior, she just energetic and likes meeting new ponies."

Obligation stepped forward to reply, "It's okay, everypony is different and others shouldn't be bothered by it."

"Thank you for being so understanding, oh we haven't introduced ourselves, my name is Twilight Sparkle, personal protege of Princess Celestia and the local librarian and these are my friends, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, also this is Spike, we lives with me and works at the library and don't worry he's only a baby dragon." as Twilight spoke she pointed at each pony and said dragon.

"Nice to meet you all, my name is Obligation and these are my brothers."

Each one of the unicorns moved forward as they spoke.

"Greetings, my name is Tolerance,"

"My name is Restraint."

"And my name is Mercy, it is really nice to meet you all."

The ponies started to give them strange looks, at this point the four Juggernauts thought it was already over until PInkie popped up behind Obligation, "Those names are funny, but they kinda suit you four, don't you think so girls?"

The girls snapped out of their thoughts and agreed with their party friend, Applejack then got up and said, "Well, It was mighty fine meeting ya'll, but I need to get back home and put Applebloom to bed."

Rarity also got up and said she needed to put Sweetie Bell to bed and Rainbow said that she needed to take Scootaloo to her home, saying that she also needed rest. The three ponies took the fillies and went off their separate directions, leaving Twilight, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Spike, but before anything could happen also Fluttershy left saying that she needed to take care of the animals back at her home and Pinkie said she needed to start preparing for the party later that say, leaving Twilight, Spike, and the four unicorn holograms. Their was silence for the longest time until Spike nudged Twilight, telling Twilight that it had been silent for too long and that she should probably show the new ponies around town.

"Um, well, I think we should all head to town so I can show you around, if thats fine with you four?"

Mercy jumped at the chance to learn new things and joyfully answered yes for himself and his brothers.

=====

As the group entered the town, Twilight could see that everything had returned to normal, well as normal as the town could get anyway. The four unicorns behind her were quiet the entire time and that worried her, all they have done since she met them was look around at everything with much detail, Mercy being the most excited of the four. By the time they had gotten into the more active parts of town Spike had started a conversation with Restraint about the things that go on in the town. Twilight finally decided to head to the first place she could think of at the moment, the library.

"This is were we will start at, the library, which is also my home so if you need any books I will always be here to help you in finding anything, Spike will also help you with things if I am out."

"What kind of books does the library contain?" Tolerance asked.

"Well, it contains a large amount of books from all genres, but it mostly has spell books and history books." Tolerance noted that he would need to stop by to get some history books.

"Do you want to look inside?" Spike asked, knowing that said unicorn wanted to look inside, but thats when Tolerance realized a problem with his plan, that their cloaked bodies would not fit inside any of the buildings in the town, being as tall as most of the buildings themselves. He just hoped that the holograms could handle be some distance away from its source of power. He decided that it would not be the best of time to do so until he was sure it would work. Everypony noticed that Tolerance was sweating nervously.

"Uh, something wrong Tolerance?"

"Oh, nothing, its just that its hot out here, um I'll be right back, my brothers and I need some private time to think about something, um be back." And with that Tolerance took hold of his cloaked brothers and ran over to a secluded area.

"What is it Tolerance?" Asked an annoyed Obligation.

"I don't know if our holograms can enter structures and I don't know how we would navigate them!"

"We at least need to try and hope that it does work and we can just look through the windows to navigate." Suggested Restraint as he was in a mood to explore the unknown, even if it may blow their cover.

Tolerance knew his brother was right and that if they didn't try, it might them even more suspicious than they are already acting.

"And if it doesn't work, what then!" Stated Mercy as nearby ponies looked at them with looks confusion and curiosity.

The four ponies noticed this and quickly decided with a vote on what to do and they ended up deciding to take the risk. Afterwards they walked back to the library were Twilight was waiting for them. She wondered what they were talking about but did not bother with it because she didn't want to be rude. Twilight opened the door to the library. Tolerance, being the one that was the most worried, hesitantly entered the tree/library/home, he then stooped to expect the worst to happen, he waited, to him what felt like an entirety, both the hologram and the actual thing. But nothing happened, his real body walked over to the open window and began to control the hologram, telling it to continue inside as his brother's holograms had already done, each on at a window, having them partially open to their hands could be used to simulate levitation. Spike walked in from the basement after getting bored waiting for the ponies to come in.

"So...what were you guys talking about that was so private?"

Twilight stopped levitating her books and gave Spike a glare and yelled, "Spike! That was very rude of you, you don't ask ponies things that are private. I taught you better then that!"

Twilight turned around to face Obligation, "Sorry for that."

"It's okay, the conversation was Tolerance being Tolerance...he's very superstitious, isn't that right brother?"

Tolerance looked over from facing the books, "Ya, I'm just superstitious, thats all."

"Oh, okay, I'll be right back, Spike come in the kitchen with me will you."

The dragon sighed, "Yes Twilight." And with that Twilight left the room with Spike following.

Two of the unicorns continued to look around the library as Twilight continued to lecture Spike while the other ones were reading book from book on Equestrian history, by the time Twilight was finished with her lecture they had read all of the books from basic Equestrian history to the more complex writes. They were in the middle of putting the books back when Twilight reentered the room to find a whole row of books being put back in place simultaneously, but what seemed odd to her was that there was no aura surrounding the books, once the books were put back into place Twilight walked over to the unicorn brothers.

"What was that?"

The unicorns turned their holographic heads towards Twilight, with the word 'What?' slapped on it. Twilight saw this and continued, "All those books levitated back into the bookshelves without any aura, I didn't see any aura?"

The four unicorns realized the problem with that, but Restraint quickly thought of an idea, “That's something that we've always had; no aura when we use magic. None of use know why, but I personally like it, I think its cool."

Her eyes widened as Restraint explained, “But you can't not have an aura! It's always been a part of magic!”

“I don't think that we don't have one per se, I think it's just completely translucent. The aura is a physical manifestation around the object getting manipulated, it's what actually moves the object, or teleports it, shrinks it, enlarges, whatever you're doing to it. It has to be there, but who says it has to be visible? Twilight looked on in interest as Restraint explained how he thought of the aura, or lack thereof aura that his brothers and himself had, for a lie, he put in a lot of effort into it. After that they all left the library as Twilight, feeling less tense around the four brothers, as they headed off to Sweet Apple Acres.

Author's Note

Heres a longer chapter then i normally do, you guys are lucky that I had no homework from School.

Enjoy!

The Town Part 3: The Carousel Boutique

The Four Strangers

The Town Part 3: The Carousel Boutique

"Do I take life or give it? Who is victim, and who is foe?" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

While the group of unicorns were heading towards The Carousel Boutique, Tolerance was easily getting himself distracted by all the activity and worry of stepping on somepony or their stuff. He was also worried of getting hit by the local pegasi. A specific grey coated pegasus had almost hit him at least five times, at which during these times he would loose concentration on what his hologram was doing, again almost blowing this cover. His brother weren't fairing any better with said pegasus, she was extremely close to touching Restraints sensory organs, luckily after a while Rainbow Dash flew by and told the pegasus 'Derpy' to be careful and warning her that she may hit a building or somepony. After that Derpy landed and started to head off in a random direction. Then they had to avoid bumping into Rainbow dash as she was talking to Twilight about something, they couldn't hear because they were using their sensors to avoid things.

"Isn't that an interesting story Twilight, giant creatures, Scootaloo has a strange imagination?"

"Ya...Rainbow, that is an interesting story." Unbeknownst to Rainbow Dash, Twilight was a becoming a nervous wreck, first she hears a strange story from Applejack about what her sister saw and know her is Rainbow Dash telling her the same story, but she got hers from Scootaloo.

"Well, Twilight I'm going to go back to work and stuff." With that Rainbow Dash flew off to the nearest cloud and instead of working, laid back and fell asleep. Twilights doubt began to grow, she just needed to know if Sweetie Bell had a similar story before she could start planning anything, but for all she knew the unicorns behind her and the creatures in Applebloom's and Scootaloo's story are just a coincidence or that Ponyville may be in danger, but she did her best not to show it. She didn't want to falsely accuse anypony of being anything until she had all the facts.

The group had arrived at The Carousel Boutique, it was a fairly tall building that was brightly decorated with white, purple and other sorts of colors. As they entered they could see Rarity busy working on a dress for client, with the sound of a bell ring the four Juggernauts were all positioned at the closest window to them, none being open so they couldn't fake levitation, but could still have the holograms interact with the two ponies.

"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, how may I...oh Twilight its nice to see you, and it looks like you brought company."

"Ya, I'm showing them around town, we just got back from Applejack's place and decided to head here next."

"Oh that so nice of you darling, I bet they just love it here, all of Equestria's finest clothing can be found here."

Rarity began to fall into her little world, when Pinkie came running through the door, this spooked Mercy, who jumped and hid behind one of the mannequins. The other holograms just stared at him until they shrugged it off, they can understand, they aren't in the clear yet. Pinkie ran into Twilight, which both together slammed in to rarity with all her fabrics.

"Pinkie!" They both yelled in unison.

"Oh, sorry girls, I'm just so excited about the party tonight and I just couldn't stop running around, oh here's your invitations you two." As Rarity and Twilight were untangling themselves from the fabric Pinkie Pulled out two invitations and quickly gave them to Rarity and Twilight and ran towards the door, but then stopped and turned around, "Oh I almost forget," she pulled out four more invites and gave them to the unicorn brothers faster then you could say random and ran out the door.

"You are right Twilight, Pinkie is random, and is not your normal pony." Stated Obligation as he went over with his brothers to help the two mares finish untangling themselves and began to gently roll up the fabric, they were able to do this because during the randomness of Pinkie they had opened some of the windows from the outside.

"Ya, she can be a hoof full when she gets to pull off parties for new ponies and since there are four of you she must be even more excited then usual," replied Twilight as she used a spell to fix herself and used the same spell on Rarity after she was untangled. Twilight took her invitation with her magic and began to read it her look went from being in a normal stature to being a look of surprise. "It looks like this party is going to be outside and she even called in a DJ and multiple bands in to play multiple genres of music. Pinkie's never ever put so much work into a party before?"

"It may be because that there are four new ponies instead of one." Rarity said.

"Mmm...that may be the reason." Twilight continued to look at the invitation, turning it around to find even details on the back, Twilight's face went from being confused to having a panic tone.

"Umm Twilight you okay?" Asked a worried Tolerance and everypony stared at Twilight waiting for an answer.

"Oh, its nothing, its just that Pinkie has also invited both Princesses, why would that worry me?" Twilight's mane began to become messy and her pupils got really small. Rarity and the four unicorns started to back away from Twilight as she started to walk to the door, mumbling words to herself that everything would be okay. By then Sweetie Bell had waken up and was walking down the stairs. Sweetie Bell, still being tired, walked past the group into the kitchen, not paying attention to anything. Ounce Twilight had left the building everypony let relaxed and the four unicorns turned towards Rarity with confusion.

"What was that about?" Asked Restraint.

"Oh, Twilight just flips when it comes to the Princesses."

Sweetie Bell walked back into the room, still tired from her adventure in the forest, "Sis, i had the weirdest dream last night, the girls and I had snuck out of our homes and went into the forest to see Zecora about something and we got lost and then we were attacked by timberwolves, we ran into a cave where we were saved by four giant creatures, one of them even used its body to shield us, then I was just outside the forest being carried by one of them and then I wake up."

"Well, actually darling, you did sneak out last night, but the those weren't creatures, they were probably just thee four gentlecolts that you saw, they brought you back before we could start searching for you three."

Sweetie Bell processed this new information as said unicorns slipped outside and left. Sweetie Bell knew what she had seen and had to think about it, four creatures and four unicorns, which had to mean one thing, the new ponies that Rarity just mentioned and left must be the creatures in disguise. Sweetie Bell decided to agree with her sister for now until she could talk to her friends to confirm her suspicions.

"Later..." Sweetie Bell mumbled as she headed to the bathroom to clean up.

Author's Note

DUN DUN DUN!! the plot thickens. (No pun intended)

And thank you those how helped me get out of my predicament.

The Party Part 1

The Four Strangers

The Party Part 1

"You will show me what she hides! Or I shall feast upon your BONES!" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

It was almost time for the Sun to set and the moon to rise, everypony was getting ready for the party that was going to happen, with the help of the Princesses and the weather ponies it would be a nice winter night for a party. Some ponies were bundling up for the cold, only to take them off to the very decent weather. Princess Celestia was the first of the Princesses to arrive in Ponyville and as usual she had to have a sit down with Twilight about the fact that sometimes its just nice to get away from being formal and just have some fun. Shortly after the moon had been risen Princess Luna had joined her sister and they were helping around with the final preparations,Vinyl Scratch or DJ-Pon3 as she was called publicly was setting up her equipment. Three bands had also shown up for the party, each one specialized in a different genre of music; jazz, old classic rock, and heavy metal. Each one was set up at different corners of the party area. Some of the Royal Guard had come as well to have a good time, even Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had shown up. Everything was going the way Pinkie imagined it.

"This is just going to be the best party EVER!" Yelled out Pinkie as she looked around at all the ponies working hard to make the party perfect.

"Of course, tis think this will also be a 'perfect party' and we will all have a great time." Pinkie turned around to find Princess Luna levitating glowing necklaces to everypony around.

"Oooo, whose are so cool, what are they?"

"These are just warming rings, tis are designed to keep the body warm when it gets colder, thy want one?"

"Oh, can I have a pink one!"

'Tis of course, anything for a friend."

Luna levitated a pink one and put around Pinkie's neck and Pinkie just started to glow with pink, "Your right, they do keep you warm, and its glow is so cool!"

Princess Celestia started to walk over towards her sister and the glowing pink pony with Twilight beside her.

"So thy take it that the talk went well?" Asked Luna as she continued to pass out the warm glowing necklaces.

"Yes, Luna and Twilight, what did you learn today?"

Twilight looked up as Luna gave her a purple necklace, making her glow as well, "I learned that even if one is of a high stature does not mean that they may not wanted to always be treated in such manor as they usually are."

"Thats a good analyze, you should make a letter later so you can never forget that." Spoke Celestia in her normal voice that was a motherly like tone.

By then Vinyl Scratch had finished setting up her area of the party area while the other groups were finishing up as well. Ponies were setting up tent areas to hold the food and drinks. In the center was a large table with large speakers and in the center was two poles holding a banner that said, "Welcome to Ponyville!"

Pinkie turned around to see the two Princesses, Twilight, and a group of ponies chatting up a storm, "I'm going to get the guests of honor, oh and Twilight are they still in the library?"

"Ya, they are still in the library, they have been talking and reading books. They've read almost all the books in the library!" Yelled out Twilight in response. Pinkie jumped in glee and ran towards the library. Unbeknownst to all the other ponies that three fillies in the background were busy with their own plans.

"Are ya sure we have ta do this, they did save our lives."

"Ya Sweetie Bell, what if they are just nice and friendly like they have been."

Scootaloo and Applebloom were arguing with Sweetie Bell about if they should try to reveal the Juggernauts presence in Ponyville.

"But girls, for all we know they could have just done it to get the whole town to trust them."

"But what if its just a coincidence that there are four unicorns and there were four creatures." Stated an irritated Scootaloo.

"No, there here," Sweetie bell took out a pair of thermal goggles she borrowed from Pinkie, were Pinkie got them is anyponies guess, "Put these on and look out towards the library."

Scootaloo reluctantly took the thermal goggles and looked out at the library, surrounding the library were four large creatures that had their arms inside of the tree. Scootaloo continued to look at the library with disbelief on her face.

"Let me see!" Yelled Applebloom, who soon regretted the decision as she looked threw the goggle a well. She continued to look to see the creatures remove their appendages and begin to look around and began to follow the thermal signature of a pony, as she did she saw the four unicorns following Pinkie Pie to the area were the party was going to take place. As they enter music and lights started up and ponies began to party to DJ-Pon3's songs, the four unicorns looked at each other in confusion, Obligation the first one to understand that a party is some sort of entertainment and that it was for them. His brothers on the other hoof/claw/hand still didn't understand.

"This is interesting?" Spoke up Mercy.

"Ya, it seams to be some sort of celebration, but for what?" Replied Tolerance.

"I believe this is what they call a party, I think we are supposed to dance to the music and have a good time?" Stated Restraint.

"Yes, brothers, this is a party, so lets go and have a good time, it is for us anyway." Spoke up Obligation as his brothers agreed and they began to walk into the group of ponies. Tolerance, who somehow got separated with his brothers managed to bump into Princess Celestia while she was talking to Twilight.

"Oh excuse me Princess!"

"The formalities are needed and you must be one of the unicorn brothers that saved the..." Turning back to Twilight for a second and then turned back, "Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"Well, ya my brothers and I did save the three fillies, it was the right thing to do, couldn't leave them out there all by themselves."

"Oh that reminds me! How did your brothers end up in the forest?" asked Twilight as she joined the conversation.

"Oh, we just like to travel a lot and we ended up in the forest, we were able to take care of ourselves and wanted to finally settle in the nearest town, which ended up being this one."

"But you don't have a home?"

"We will, I just need to find a house that isn't owned by somepony, oh and that reminds me, how much is a hundred pounds of gold worth, we haven't had to but things and I've heard that prices may be different in this part of Equestria." Twilight and the Princess looked at Tolerance as if he had grown a second head.

Celestia spoke up after processing the information, "Well, one pound of gold is the equivalent of seventy bits, since bits are made out of gold."

"Well, there aren't any houses on the market right now, but with that much gold you should be able to have one built for you." Added Twilight after she also processed the information.

"Thank you for the intel and well, I'm going to enjoy the party, see you two later." And with that Tolerance went back into the crowd of ponies, by now they had the classic rock band playing some songs, while the jazz band was getting their stuff ready to play. The four unicorns real bodies stayed near the perimeter were the food was located. Everything was going very well, or so everypony thought.

Author's Note

Stupid Sweetie Bell! You are about to Ruin everything! Oh well, see everything go wrong in part 2 when I put that up.
Oh and comment, I want to see your opinions.

The Party Part 2

The Four Strangers

The Party Part 2

"Now... at last, I see.... Her secret is revealed!!" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

The party was going very smoothly that night. Everypony was having fun as different genres of song were playing from time to time. Pinkie was flying from corner to corner, saying hi to everypony she came across. Twilight, Luna, and Celestia were having a good time near the snack bar exchanging stories and laughs. Rainbow Dash was on the dance floor with Applejack. Rarity and Fluttershy were at the corner with the least amount of ponies, asking one another how their days have been and planning a trip to the spa tomorrow. Other ponies were either dancing or having a good old time snacking on drinks and cake. Tolerance was watching over Vinyl Scratch's back as she was showing him how her stuff works. Obligation was doing his best to try to dance at songs he thought satisfactory. Mercy was chatting with some of the other locals and Restraint, having the fun out of all of them, was playing the bass with the classic rock band. Yes, the party looked like it could last forever, even the four cloaked bodies had loosened up and shared some laughs with one another, three of them still at the snack bar while the fourth was at the classic rock band area.

Sadly the fun had to end eventually, the bands were on their last run of songs and then everypony would have to start helping out on taking down some of the decorations. While this was going on the CMC were busy putting rope around the legs of Restraint while his hologram and real self were rocking it out, since his body was the least balanced since he was leaning over to play the bass. They didn't put it too tight so he wouldn't feel it, once that was done they put the rope over a sturdy tree branch, with the other end tied to a large boulder that was ready to be pushed over the edge of the local well. Once everything was in place they waited until the party was over and everypony wasn't busy partying. Obligation, Mercy, and Tolerance were heading towards Restraint at the time to see if he was okay with them using their gold and minerals to make a house that they could live in. By the time they made it to Restraint, he was almost done finishing off the last song of the night. As he did, the CMC got in position, Applebloom and Scootaloo were ready to push the boulder as Sweetie Belle was staying near the stage for when they revealed one of the creatures, which would reveal the rest. When everpony calmed down and looked up at the stage, which had the four guests of honor, each one ready to thank all the ponies there for the great party. The position of the cloaked bodies, if Sweetie Belle's plan works, should now cause all four of the large bodies to fall over. Obligation's hologram walked towards the microphone and spoke up.

"We wish to thank you for the fantastic party, we feel that this town is just perfect for us to live here, but first," Obligation turned around to face his brothers to see if they were okay with this, in which they all nodded, "we have been keeping a secret that we believe we can trust you all enough to tell you all." The ponies all stared at Obligation and his brothers in anticipation.

Tolerance walked up to the microphone as well, "We don't want anypony to freak out about this, so if could just stay calm when we do reveal our secret, it would be appreciated." Sweetie Belle, paying attention to this, knew that they were going to show themselves on their own and had Scootaloo and Applebloom remove the boulder, but forgot about the rope. They stood with the crowd in the front row of ponies.

One pony stood up and shouted, "Are you changelings?"

Mercy took one of the other microphones, "Oh no, but we aren't ponies if you are asking."

"Yes, ponies of Ponyville and the Princesses of Equestria, we the four unicorns you see before you now, are just illusions, fakes, can both Princesses come here please?" Spoke up Restraint as he stepped forward. Both Princesses flew over the crowd of ponies and landed in front of the four unicorns, but allowed the crowd room to see.

"If you aren't changeling or pony, them what are you four then?" Asked Princess Celestia walked forward with her sister behind her. Celestia wasn't surprised, when she had met Tolerance she didn't feel any life force coming from the unicorn, but she did feel like she was being watched the entire time at the party.

"Well, let us show you, just to be clear we don't mean any harm and it isn't necessary to panic or violence." Replied Obligation. With that the four unicorns began to phase in and out of existence, some of the ponies flinched at the event. Once the four ponies disappeared the area behind the stage began to flicker with color as waves appeared to be forming four, large shapes, some ponies began to walk backwards, trying to stay calm. As the waves increased in speed the forms began to gain detail until the waves disappeared. The four Juggernauts stood up proudly, showing off their full height as they towered over the ponies. Luna had lost her footing while her sister didn't even flinch. Twilight and her friends walked onto the stage to get a better look at the four Juggernauts, Fluttershy was hiding behind Applejack while Rainbow Dash was keeping herself restrained as Pinkie acted like nothing had changed at all.

Before Twilight or Celestia could speak Obligation started off, "We are part of The Juggernaut Elite, we are Flood and we come in peace."

Obligation's voice was heard by everypony in Ponyville, but before Obligation or anypony could speak, a random pony from the crowd yelled out, "RUN!"

With that everypony was in a state of panic, running around in random directions, causing destruction everywhere. Applejack , looking at all the destruction said the words that were on everponies mind,

"Ah horseapples!"

Author's Note

Pretty short chapter, but if you look at it, The Party was supposed to be one chapter, not two, so it makes the story longer.

Epic Confrontation

The Four Strangers

Epic Confrontation

"You suck!" - Gravemind (Halo 3 with IWHBYD skull on)

"That unit is defective. It's thinking is chaotic. Absorbing it unsettled me." - Nomad (Star Trek)

"Ah horseapples!"

Everypony in town were destroying everything in their panic, props from the party flying into windows, ponies running into ponies, carts, buildings, everything. Twilight and the main six, being well the main six, ran out into the crowd to calm everypony, meanwhile both Princesses were arguing about how to deal with the situation. Obligation and his brothers on the other 'hoof' began to slowly walk away from the scene as the situation went from bad to horrible. As the chaos continued nopony noticed the group of blue eyes appearing over the small hill on the outskirts of town and that on the other side of town appeared thirty-two griffins.

Before anymore mayhem could happen in the ounce peaceful town the griffins yelled out, "Charge!"

Everypony turned around to see the griffins charging down the hill with enchanted armor and rifle-like staffs that began to create beams of pure energy at the townsfolk. Before either Princess could react they were jumped from behind by two additional griffins, who put anti-rings over their horns, making the use of magic useless. Mercy, being the first of the four brothers to realize what was happening jumped towards the Princesses, the griffins stopped to look at the giant flood in the fact that they wouldn't be able to defeat him turned back around, putting there rifles up to the necks of the Princesses, by that time the rest of the Juggernauts got into battle formation in plan to fight, but not harm or kill the them. They would started a fight if it weren't the fact that the enemy had all the ponies and Princesses as hostages.

The leader of the griffins began to speak, "I Captain Lance Martian demand that you surrender or we will kill everypony here!"

Obligation, seeing the look of bloodlust in the Captain's eyes, but not in the eyes of his men and for a second there he could swear that their eyes flashed green. But before he could respond, Mercy decided to put his big sensors into the mess.

"Why should we surrender!"

Tolerance face palmed and the griffin Captain looked at Mercy like he was an idiot, "Because we got all these ponies, including their Princesses hostage that's why!"

"WhAt aRe YoU doINg brOthEr?" Whispered Restraint.

"I am trying to buy time, look at Princess Celestia, Mercy tilted his head to face towards the Princess of the Sun, who at the moment was trying to remove the ring off of her horn, "If I can keep this up the situation won't have to resort to bloodshed."

Restraint, understanding his brother's plan explained it to the other two brothers, Captain Martian, noticing the four Juggernauts interactions became extremely agitated, but still felt bumptious spoke out, "What are you four talking about over their, I hope you aren't going to try anything sneaky, because if you do," The Captain went over to Princess Luna, pulling out a knife and leaned it against the Night Princess's throat, "Or I will kill one of the Princesses!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Yelled out a restrained Rainbow Dash.

The griffin Captain looked over to the cyan pegasus with a smirk that only the craziest beings would wear, "Oh, Miss Dash I would dare."

The look in the Captain's eyes got the pegasus to shut up, as he continued to stare at her one of his men spoke up, "Sir, we have done are side of the bargain, now it's your turn."

"What bargain?" Asked a still struggling Celestia.

Lance, ignoring the Sun Princess looked over to the other griffin, "Oh yes, you'll get your side of the bargain." Not a second later a red dragon with a purple underbelly flew out of the Everfree, landing with a thud holding a smaller figure in his palm. The figure was a tall, slim female who was blacker than the night itself, she was wearing a tore up gown that was a sickly green with black and white fur around the collar of the dress, her mane and tail were also a silky green, which had holes that could be seen in them, and so did her hooves. On a torn part of the dress exposed a green piece over her middle section that sprouted hole covered insect wings. Everypony, except for the four brothers immediately identified the figure as the Queen of the Changelings.

"QUEEN CHRYSALIS!"

"What is she doing here!" Yelled out Rainbow Dash.

"More importantly what has happened to her?" Stated Twilight as the griffin forces, minus the Captain were engulf in green flames to be exposed as changelings. Obligation and his brothers looked at the sight in excitement.

"Mmmm... another species that needs study. Whispered Mercy as the dragon put the Changeling Queen down. One of the changeling drones ran to Chrysalis's battered body to see if she was still alive. The other changelings had a look of anger on their faces, giving the griffin scowls.

"You said she'd be unharmed!" Yelled out one of the drones.

"No, I said that I would not kill her or fatally wound her, she'll survive." Replied the griffin.

While the conversation continued onward, nopony noticed the four giants moving towards the mane six. Also unknown to everypony except for the changelings was that the entire changeling swarm were preparing to attack the dragon and his master. Unknown to the Juggernauts was that the changeling drones were also getting ready to free the Princesses.

"HEY!" Yelled out the griffin at the Juggernauts, but as he did, Chrysalis, who had regained a level of reality lunged at him, pinning the griffin to the ground. The dragon was about to smash the Queen, but was assaulted by a swarm of changelings that appeared out of the forest, they were zooming left and right around the giant reptile. A small group of the changeling swarm split off and slingshot themselves around the town hall, slamming with all their might into the underbelly of the beast.

Meanwhile Chrysalis continued to hold the griffin Captain as a now free Princess Luna was ramming herself into the griffin. Celestia and the main six began to organize the townsfolk out of the battle zone. The griffin Captain head-butted the Changeling Queen as the Princess jumped forward, causing her to hit Chrysalis and fly into the window of a small shed.

The swarm and the dragon continued their attacks, the swarm itself was getting smaller by the minute as the dragon constantly used its breath of fire to eat away at the swarm. Suddenly the entire swarm formed a ball and in a big flash of green light they took the form of a giant black three-headed hydra with wings and lunged at the dragon, throwing both into one of the buildings, causing flashes of multiple colors as both roared, shortly covering the area in smoke and dust. As the smoke/dust cleared away, everypony sees the dragon get up, missing his left arm, holes in right wing and tail, and crimson blood pouring out of left eye. The changeling made hydra-thing lying in the debris battered worse than its opponent. The dragon, tired and broken, decided to complete this fight. He started to inhale large amounts of oxygen to blast the changelings off the face of Equestria, but before he could the four Juggernauts came out of nowhere, one grabbing his working arm, two more grabbing the legs, and the last one landing on the dragon's back, grabbed the ears and pulled, causing the dragon to look up and blasting fire straight into the sky. The dragon continued to struggle against the four brothers as the changeling hydra-thing flew up back onto its makeshift feet and ran towards the group, but it fell over, collapsing back into a swarm of changeling drones. The dragon, tired from exhaustion and loss of blood tumbled over into another building, the four Juggernauts flying off the dragon. By then the griffin was tied up and all the townsfolk were evacuated from what was left of the town. The group, consisting of changeling, flood, and pony moved to loom over the griffin.

"Chrysalis." Said Celestia in a flat tone.

"Yes?" Replied a beat up changeling queen.

"You... Need a bath." With that statement everypony started to laugh.

"I think we all need a bath, but first," Chrysalis looked over to the four Juggernauts, "who and what are those four things?"

Celestia, Luna, and the mane six turned their heads to face the four behemoths with looks that said 'ya who and what are you?'

Author's Note

I was watching Star Trek: The Changeling while typing this, felt nostalgic in putting Nomad quotes in story and in title.

Sorry for the long wait, had to deal with family and school issues. Also had a writer's block and had so many updates on stories to read.

Also wanted to see if my story's 'life-force' if you will would survive without any updates for a period of time.

Your Loyalty has made me happy, YES!

Also I am now using this story for a school assignment and I was hoping someone could look my story over and help me revise it before March 19. Also my story will have to close very soon, but their will be a sequal.

The Game is Over... For Now

The Four Strangers

The Game is Over... For Now

"Submit! End her torment and my own!" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

The tension continued to rise as the four Juggernauts hesitated to answer the question because out of everything they had gone through, rejection was the only thing that could happen now, every scenario was going through their heads. The group of ponies and changeling continued to stare at them in patience, except for one cyan pegasus.

"Well, are you going to tell us or what!"

"Oohhh, I bet they're aliens from another planet!" yelled out Pinkie.

"Pinkie, why would aliens hide from us, doesn't make them... suspicious and aliens have been proven to be a myth." Interjected Twilight.

"Well... actually she is technically correct." stated Tolerance.

"What? How can that be possible, you aren't scientifically possible?" Replied Twilight.

"It would explain for their outward appearance since I have seen many creatures in my time." Princess Celestia added in.

While everything was going on a changeling drone had flown over towards the group, eyeing the four Juggernauts, the drone landed next to his Queen.

"My Queen?" asked the drone.

"Yes, my loyal subject." replied Chrysalis.

"What are your orders, my Queen?"

Looking around at the debris that was left of the town the Queen made an assessment of the situation, "How many casualties?"

"Seventy-two percent of the swarm is still intact and five percent are unaccounted for, and well twenty-three casualties." Replied the drone.

"Mmmm... then if that is the case... I order you and the rest of the swarm to continue to search for missing changelings and start repairing the damage to the town itself."

" Yes, my Queen." with that the drone buzzed away from the group.

"Well, I don't remember you being so calm about these things." stated a surprised Celestia as she was unamused by the fact that the aliens hesitance to give them their story.

"Yes, since my failed attempt to take over Canterlot I have... thought over my life and decided to start over, the reason more the dress was because a few days ago I was planning on returning to ask for... a truce between our people."

Celestia's eyes widened like dinner plates with a wide smile on her face, she then hugged the Changeling Queen, who after hesitating for a moment, hugged back, everypony and flood looked over at the sight with Luna having a smile on her face. After everything was done between the alicorn Princess and Changeling Queen the group once again focused on the four Juggernauts, whom continued to stall.

"You're stalling." stated Pinkie.

"What?" asked Obligation.

"I said your all stalling."

"We ArE nOt STallInG." interjected Restraint.

"Then tell us what and why you are here, oh andmaybeafterwardswecanhaveapartyandthenyoucanshowusmmmmm..." before Pinkie could finish Twilight's hoof clogged her up.

"Pinkie they can't understand you when you do that... but she is right, can you please start from the beginning, before you deceived us."

"MMMmm... ok we will tell you everything, just don't hate us or try to destroy us." replied Tolerance and with that they told them everything about Flood history, from the beginning with the Forerunners to the Human-Covenant war to the death of the Gravemind, from their they explained in great detail that the last couple of days before today were the few greatest days of their lives, saving the CMC and meeting 'hopefully still' new friends. All the while the changelings were almost finished in rebuilding the small town of Ponyville with all the residents watching from a distance.

After finishing their story the ponies and changeling stood there for a moment to analyze all the information given to them in the past seven minutes or so. Celestia and Luna were the first ones to finish and both had soft smiles on their faces.
Shortly afterward the rest of the group started to smile, except for Chrysalis.

"There is one thing I don't understand, why do you want to change your ways, but the rest of your kind didn't?"

"Well, we were bred to think like the enemy and over time we decided that violence wasn't the answer, also the Gravemind may have been sort of a schizophrenic." replied Obligation as everypony except for Twilight and Chrysalis looked at him with confusion.

“He MeAns CrAZy.” Added Restraint.

“Ohhh!"

With that the group began to walk through the slowly repairing town and headed towards Twilight’s place, which only faced minor damage that had already been taken care of. The inside of course looked exactly as it did when she left it, minus one baby dragon. Everypony plus changeling entered the building and the four Juggernauts placed their appendages inside through the windows.

The changeling Queen decided to speak up first, “So, what do we do now, with… you know the truce?”

“About that Chrysalis,” Replied Celestia as she turned her head to face Twilight, “I think you and Twilight should work together to find a compromise to the changeling/pony situation, if that is you both find that acceptable.”

“I won’t let you down Princess.” Answered Twilight.

“Mmm, I have grown fond of Twilight… I accept your offer.” Replied Chysalis as she moved closer to Twilight and blushed.

“With that out of the way I think we should finish our discussion about the current dilemma, Obligation and his brothers wish to become members of the town and they have that right so the rest of you here are going to help them and the town adjust to this change while Twilight takes care of changeling relations and Obligation, Tolerance, Mercy, and Restraint... I wish you four the best of luck in this quest of redemption for your people."

"We appreciate it." Replied Obligation.

"Well, my sister and I have to return to Canterlot, I bet the nobles are panicking over our sudden leave of absence." with that both Princesses disappeared in a flash of light and five ponies left the library to help the repopulation of the town and adjustment of the four Juggernauts and the townsfolk. Back inside the library Chrysalis and Twilight began to draw up the plans for the truce.

“Do you think peace is possible.” Asked the Changeling Queen.

“With friendship anything possible.” Replied Twilight.

“Anything?”

“Yes… anything is possible.”

END OF ACT 1

Author's Note

Yeah, end of Act One... yes Act Two will have Twiysalis shipping.

The Town Part 2: Sweet Apple Acres

The Four Strangers

The Town Part 2: Sweet Apple Acres

"From end to end of this galaxy, most are blinded!" - Gravemind (Halo 3)

Twilight and the four unicorns started to head into the trees of Sweet Apple Acres, the real forms trying to avoid touching any of the trees and hitting the local population of birds that fly by. By the time they got into the heart of the farm the four Juggernauts had become exhausted from the effort, trying to not let it show threw the advanced holograms. They must have been doing a good job because Twilight didn't notice anything. They stopped and Twilight looked around to find Applejack leaving the barn with Big Macintosh following from behind with an empty cart. Twilight trotted over to greet Applejack

"Hey Applejack."

"Oh, howdy Twilight, what brings you here to the farm?" Applejack failed to notice the four unicorns walking up from behind Twilight.

"I'm just showing the town to Obligation and his brothers and decided to show them the your farm after showing them the library."

Applejack slightly flinched at the mention of the four unicorns.

"Uh, Twilight, can I talk to you in the barn for a moment?"

"Okay Applejack, just give me a second," Twilight turned around to face Big Mac, "hey Big Mac, can you what over Obligation and his brothers while Applejack and I discuss something."

Big Mac looked over and answered with a simple, "Eeyup!"

With that Applejack and Twilight entered the barn as Big Mac walked over to the unicorns in order to learn their names.

"Howdy."

"Hello good sir, my name is Obligation, and these are my brothers Tolerance, Mercy, and Restraint."

Big Mac didn't seem affected by the names of the four unicorns, 'My name is Big Macintosh, but you can just call me Big Mac."

After the formalities were finished the five stallions began to walk towards the apple trees, much to the Juggernauts discomfort. While in the barn Twilight and Applejack were discussing cautions about the new ponies.

"Ah have a bad feeling about them Twilight."

"What do you mean Applejack?"

"Well, Ah can tell you they're hiding something."

"While you mention it, every time I'm near them it feels like I'm being watched from all around me and they have been acting suspicious, also they didn't have any aura when they levitated things."

"Also, after Applebloom woke up after getting her into bed she said that she wasn't rescued by anypony, but was saved by four large creatures."

"Well, we can't do anything until we have more evidence to confirm our suspicions, so for now we will be nice and hospitable until then."

"Okay, Twilight Ah can do that, thank you for listening."

"Hey, what are friends for."

=====

"So how do you remove the apples from the trees anyway?"

Without saying anything Big Mac turned around and bucked tree, causing all the apples to fall into the baskets set up under the tree. Big Mac found the company of the other stallions to be a nice change in pace, but he also couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He just shrugged it off as him being paranoid because of his new company. Obligation seemed to be the most interested of the brothers, watching how some ponies worked to survive by growing food for themselves and others, he found it heart warming, just if he and his brothers had hearts.

"May I try?" Asked Obligation as Big Mac was preparing to continue his normal process on the next tree, he thought about it, deciding that it wouldn't hurt anypony.

"Eeyup, just don't hurt yourself."

"I won't." Well, it was the truth, he was worried more about the tree itself than anything. Obligation got his hologram into place while he was ready to hit the tree with his arm. At the right moment, his arm began to swing forward, hitting the tree at the same time his hologram's hind legs hit it. He applied too much force, making multiple large cracks in the tree, with all the apples and some leaves to fall in the baskets. Big Mac had his jaw open in disbelief at the sight before him. Obligation saw what he had done and started to say he was sorry for damaging the tree. Big Mac was more impressed and angry at the unicorn.

"Its all right, Ah just didn't know anypony could do such a thing."

"No, it's my fault, I just don't know my own strength."

"The one Ah would worry about getting mad at you is my sister, she gets oversensitive about the trees sometimes and you didn't mean too, so Ah forgive ya."

Obligation settled down until Applejack and Twilight came over a nearby hill, at the sight of Applejack Obligation froze, he didn't want Applejack to see the cracks he put into the tree and started to panic, but Big Mac, being an understanding fellow walked over to Obligation.

"It will be all right, Ah got this."

Obligation relaxed and walked over to see what his brothers were doing as he heard Applejack yell at the sight of the tree and Big mac began telling her that he did it on accident.

"What are you three doing?"

Tolerance was the first one to speak up, "We were just comparing the structure of the trees of this world to previous ones that the our species has come in contact with, they seam to be the same in every way except for that they hold large amounts of energy."

Obligation was intrigued by this development, "Anything else you find that is strange?"

Mercy this time spoke, "Yes brother, it seems like there is no energy source for the tree, the tree itself is creating the energy."

Restraint butted in, "It is, but I think we shouldn't be investigating the way this world works until we are sure that we are in the clear and the towns folk aren't as suspicious of us, we should just try to make friends in this town since we are going to be living here."

Obligation had to agree with him and they decided to head back to the other three ponies. When they got there they noticed that there was another type of animal with them, it was smaller then a filly, with white and brown fur and had a red collar wrapped around its neck. They suspected that it is part of the canine family and possibly a pet of some sort. Big Mac and Applejack were also finishing up talking about the tree.

"I'm sorry sis, I'll make it up to you later okay."

"Al righty then, just don't let it happen again okay."

Just when the four unicorns got close enough, the began to growl at the new arrivals. Mercy, being the closest one to them froze and stared at the dog in confusion as his brothers followed in and froze as well. Twilight, Applejack, and Big Mac also noticed how strange the dog was acting towards the four unicorns. Then the dog began to bark and snarl, getting ready to jump at Mercy, who was slowly backing away.

"Winona!" Applejack yelled out, "What in tarnation is wrong with ya, they are just ponies, they mean nopony any harm."

Winona didn't even stop to look at her master as she jumped at Mercy, but before coming in contact was gripped by Twilights magic and pulled her away from Mercy and his brothers towards Applejack, who glared into Winona's eyes.

"Ahem greatly disappointed in you Winona, they may be new, but they aren't a threat, Ah taught you better then this when it comes to meeting new ponies." Winona noticed that the three ponies she was familiar with were glaring at her, her master telling her that she had did wrong, Winona began to calm down and had a look of sadness on her face as Twilight let her go.

"Big Mac, can you please take Winona back to the barn?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Big Mac took Winona and head back to the house and barn as Twilight and Applejack turned back to see the unicorn brothers calmly standing there, waiting on to see what would happen next.

"Ahm sorry for the way Winona was acting to you guys, she's never acted that way before."

Mercy spoke up first, "Its fine, as long as nopony got hurt, we're fine with it, isn't that right guys?" The other three nodded their holographic heads. As such applejack took the apples from the cracked tree and headed back to the barn as well, leaving only Twilight and the unicorn brothers behind.

"So...were do you want to go now Twilight." Asked a pale faced Mercy.

"Well, I can show you the Carousel Boutique next if you guys don't mind." With that the group left Sweet Apple Ares back into town.